


cupid day is a time for confessions

by my_o_my_what_a_horrible_day



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Valentine's Day, solangelo one-shot, that's all, they're just being cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:14:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22366216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/my_o_my_what_a_horrible_day/pseuds/my_o_my_what_a_horrible_day
Summary: Valentine's Day is easily Nico's least favorite holiday. After his encounter with Cupid, he's just not in the spirit. He was going to spend the whole day sulking. He definitely wasn't planning on talking about it, and definitely not with Will.But what better day for love confessions than Valentine's?i.e., I was rereading House of Hades and this happened. Sometimes the Solangelo one-shots write themselves.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo & Will Solace
Kudos: 19





	cupid day is a time for confessions

Nico was lying on his back on one of the beds in the Hades Cabin. Will Solace was sitting on the desk, as usual. 

"...which doesn't even make sense. I've had random campers come in and cut up bandages for me. Easiest job in the infirmary. How did  _ Austin  _ manage to screw up that bad?" he complained. Nico snorted. 

"I managed to cut bandages for you while I was still hiding a couple of poorly healed werewolf scratches. Austin's just dumb," Nico said. 

"Oh, don't you bring that up. I'm still mad at you."

"What? We've been through this. Coach did his nature healing, it was whatever."

"It was  _ not  _ whatever. You shouldn't ever have left my infirmary with both of your shoulders covered in scars. And yet, here you are."

Nico just shrugged. He was only halfway paying attention to the conversation, anyways. He wasn't usually so preoccupied, but that particular day…

They usually spent free time over by the lake. Will functioned better in the sunlight- Nico liked to joke that he was solar powered- and after so much time outside, Nico actually had some color in his skin again. But today, it was the middle of February, and Chiron had decided it was a good day for a snowstorm. They did this every once and awhile, to offer some change to the monotony and to give some cold-weather training to some of the younger demigods. Those of them who weren't forced to participate spent most of the days holed up in their cabins. Or, in Will's case, in someone else's cabin. 

Nico was pretty sure Will had no idea what day it was. It probably wouldn't have meant much to him, anyway. But Nico knew. He'd woken up that morning wanting to punch something because of it. 

Valentine's Day. 

It was Nico's least favorite holiday. And that was saying a lot, because Nico wasn't a celebrating type of person. True, this winter Will had forced him to put up a tree in Cabin 13, but that was different. Nico wasn't usually like that. Today was different than his usual distaste for holidays in general, though. This one was more personal. 

Will either didn't know the date, or didn't care. As far as Nico knew, Will had no idea about the incident in Croatia… and that was fine with Nico.    
  


Will could tell Nico was distracted. He'd only made one sarcastic comment all afternoon, and it was kind of weak. Not like him at all. 

Will paused for a couple of minutes, on the off chance Nico volunteered any information. Will knew it wouldn't happen, of course. Nico didn't operate like that. Whenever he got deep in thought like this, it took a fair amount of prodding before he'd tell Will what was up. 

Will picked up a random piece of paper from the desk, balled it up, and threw it at Nico to catch his attention. Nico glared at him, throwing it back. 

"You okay?" Will asked. 

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know. You're just really quiet today." 

"What, I'm not allowed to be tired?" Nico replied defensively. 

"Yeah, that's not it. We're so far past the point where you can lie to me, Nico," Will said. Nico sighed, rolling his eyes. "Quit being so moody. What's going on?"

"Ugh," Nico replied. Will waited, but he didn't elaborate. Will threw the paper ball again, but this time it just bounced off Nico's head and hit the floor. 

"Nico…" Will said in a singsong voice. Nico sighed dramatically. He muttered something under his breath, which Will only caught part of. Something about being obnoxious on Valentine's day. 

Will knew what day it was, of course. Austin had been being annoying about it this morning. Will had almost decided not to chill with Nico today, just so Austin would leave him alone. It's not like there was anything going on, of course. Will had a bit of a crush, sure, but that wasn't the point. They were friends. That was it. Nico didn't even know that every time Will looked at him, his heart sped up just a little bit, or that he was kind of obsessed with the little glint in his dark eyes, or…  _ Stop it, Will, _ he chided himself. Nico couldn't know about that. 

But why would Nico care about Valentine's Day, of all things? 

"What did you say?"

"Its nothing. It's stupid. This whole day is a sham," Nico said. 

"Well, yeah. It's barely a real holiday. But why does that matter? It's always fun to watch the Aphrodite kids go insane, at least," Will commented. Nico sighed again, and Will kind of figured he wasn't going to say. 

"Its not even for them. It's got it's own love god. It's dumb."

"Oh, that's right. Cupid's, like, a thing, isn't he?" 

"He's a bastard, is what he is," Nico grumbled. Will laughed. 

"Is that supposed to mean something, or is it just an observation? He doesn't even do anything," Will said.

Nico laughed bitterly. "Sure. He doesn't do anything. Until you're just minding your own business, trying to stop the earth from killing everybody and you  _ just want to get the stupid scepter and leave _ . Then he'll drag you through Croatia and throw you against a couple granite pillars because of something stupid from when you were ten years old."

"Wait, what?" 

Nico glanced up sharply, as if he'd just realized what he said. "Um…" 

"That was oddly specific," Will said. 

Nico opened his mouth to respond, and then closed it, pressing his lips together. "I didn't mean to say that."

"Yeah, I noticed."

"Shut up. Nobody asked you," Nico replied. 

He'd never talked much to anyone, including Will, about the thing in Europe. That whole quest had been a nightmare, from what Will had heard, which was not a lot. He'd been a little busy at the time, first with Mellie's baby, and then afterwards, he was healing all the demigods who'd been hurt in the battle. He didn't even leave the infirmary for more than a couple of minutes for three days. The camp gossip had all run its course by then. 

And he definitely hadn't asked Nico about it. The entire basis of the friendship was that he didn't ask unnecessary questions. If Nico was going to say something, he would. Which mostly meant he didn't. 

"Cupid, really? Of all the gods to have a random grudge against…" 

"I said shut up," Nico said, throwing a pillow at Will. "He's got red eyes. It's creepy. And he spent most of it invisible and, like, without a physical form, so you can't even stab him. It was awful." 

"Oh, no, you couldn't stab a literal god you were trying to get a favor from? What a shame," Will said, shaking his head. 

"Stop it!" Nico lobbed another pillow at Will. "I said shut up." 

"Yeah, I heard you. But that stopped being fun, like, three months ago." Will threw the pillow back, and Nico flung back dramatically, flopping off the edge of the bed upside down. 

"Ughhhh. You're almost as pushy as that stupid love god. Leave me alone." 

"Um… okay, then." WIll paused for a minute, but then he frowned. "What'd Cupid want with  _ you,  _ anyways?" 

Nico didn't respond. Will looked down at him, expecting him to be glaring again, but he wasn't. He kind of looked panicked. 

"Nico?" 

"Huh?" Nico blinked a couple of times, pulling himself upright on the bed again. "I… nothing." 

"Then why was he shoving you around?" 

"I  _ said  _ leave me alone. I don't want to talk about the Percy thing with you." 

"What Percy thing?" Will asked. Nico froze. 

"Um… I… " 

"Come on, Nico. Talk to me," Will urged. 

"Why would I do that?" Nico asked. 

Will sighed. Nico got like this sometimes, and it was awful. 'Because we're friends' never seemed to be an acceptable answer. Nico had a really hard time believing anyone actually wanted to be friends with him. But Will did, and there wasn't any particular reason why. It was just what it was. Of course, that wasn't enough to make Nico feel better. 

Nico wanted this conversation to be over. 

No, he wanted it to have never started. He'd practically told Will, the only person at camp who seemed to tolerate him, the big secret. He couldn't do that. Will would leave, and Nico couldn't blame him. Nico was a freak. An abomination. He was going to end up an outcast again. 

Even if somehow Will was like Jason and didn't run off, it didn't matter. No, because if Nico told him any of it, he'd tell him all of it. And he couldn't do that. He couldn't admit that every time he saw Will, he got this weird feeling in his stomach, or that his pulse sped up whenever Will laughed, or that all Nico ever wanted was to be close to Will, all the time. No, he couldn't tell Will that he used to have a crush on Percy Jackson, because then he would end up looking Will Solace in the eyes and telling him… no. He couldn't go down that road. 

He felt weight on the mattress, next to him. Nico threw an arm over his eyes. Maybe if he ignored Will, he'd go away. 

"That's not going to work, Nico," Will said. For a moment, Nico got all freaked out, thinking Will could read his mind. But no, Will just knew him that well. It was oddly comforting. 

"Wanna bet?" Nico mumbled. 

"What Percy thing?" Will repeated. 

Nico dropped his arm from his eyes, staring at Will. His face was burning, and he almost thought he would cry. Which was dumb. He was Nico di Angelo. He didn't cry. 

But the thought of losing the one friend he had was almost enough. Nico didn't want to go back to life without Will. The very thought of it hurt. But Will was right. If Nico didn't tell him, he'd figure it out anyway. Nico was just done for. 

"Cupid… he was… I just…" This was hard. The words didn't want to come out. Finally, he just blurted it out. "I had a crush on Percy." 

It was quiet for what felt like years but was probably only a couple of seconds. Nico didn't look at Will, didn't want to see his face. He hadn't thought he would say it out loud, not again. 

"Oh," Will finally said. Nico still didn't look at him. Will didn't leave right away, which was surprising. Surely he just didn't get it yet. Once he realized, he'd leave. 

"I'm a freak," Nico whispered. 

"What? No," Will said. "What are you talking about?" Nico didn't respond. Will's words didn't make sense. Why hadn't he left yet? 

"Nico," Will said. "Hey, look at me." 

Nico didn't want to, but he forced himself to meet Will's eyes. 

"You know at least eighty percent of camp has had a crush on Percy at some point, right? He's, like, a textbook example of 'attractive Greek hero.' He's basically a modern-day Hercules. Nobody cares," Will said. 

"But… I… I'm…" Nico couldn't even form a sentence. He heard what Will was saying, but couldn't make any sense of it. 

"You made it out of the 40s. Nobody cares anymore. You liked Percy, and I like you, and…" WIll stopped, his eyes widening just a little bit. "And I just said that out loud." 

Nico sat up so quickly the room spun. "Wait, what?" 

Will pressed his lips together and shrugged, his cheeks coloring. 

Nico stared at him for a moment.  _ Screw it,  _ he decided. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to Will's, surprising them both. He pulled back, and they stared at each other. Then Will grinned. 

"Okay," he said. 

"Okay," Nico agreed. 

And for the moment, it was true. 


End file.
